The Feds are really out to get the man who tells the truth about lie detector tests, that they’re bullshit. They’ve been out to get him for a while, as I’ve previously written.
Here’s the thing, Willam’s may or may not be guilty as charged. Honestly, he probably is. From the Journal:
Prosecutors alleged that Mr. Williams “trained an individual posing as a federal law enforcement officer to lie and conceal involvement in criminal activity from an internal agency investigation.” He’s also accused of training another person “posing as an applicant seeking federal employment” to trick a pre-employment polygraph examination.” The Justice Department says the two individuals paid Mr. Williams for the services and were instructed by him to deny having receiving his training.
But that is beside the point. Williams is clearly somebody the feds want to get because he is telling the truth about a messed up system. So William’s message needs to be told, and told loudly: the polygraph test is bullshit!
It wouldn’t matter so much if the agencies that gave this test didn’t put credence in them. Yes, you can lie and pass. More troublesome is that you can tell the truth and fail. This is why such tests are not allowed in court. They are also not allowed as a condition of employment…. except by the government. Let me say this loudly: IT DOES NOT MATTER IF YOU ARE TELLING THE TRUTH. I know too many sad stories of people, students of mine, whose life dreams were shattered because they believed in the system, told the truth, and failed the test. These false positives prevented good people from getting good jobs they would be good at. The system suffers when hiring is dependent on a bad test.
If you need to take the polygraph test, absolutely buy and read Doug William’s How to Sting the Polygraph.